Posts by Hourences

Cool man grattis!

Did the other students submit theirs too?

Official Steam group - http://steamcommunity.com/games/theball (store page following in a bit)

Little developer profile on UDK website - http://udk.com/teotl-profile

Last fridays Developer Friday - http://www.theballthegame.com/?p=430

To be announced later, but it will be similar to other titles in our segment such as Zeno Clash, Killing Floor, Trine, etc.

Thanks people

Here is the full press release + the two last screenshots of our special:

Big announcement! The Ball will be published and distributed by Tripwire Interactive, on Steam and in retail stores!

Quote

Roswell, GA, July 13, 2010: Tripwire Interactive is delighted to announce that it will be publishing Teotl Studios’ first person puzzle-adventure game, The Ball, through Steam and in stores world-wide. The Ball won multiple top prizes in Epic’s latest “Make Something Unreal” contest and is now following in the footsteps of Tripwire’s own Red Orchestra in making the leap from mod to full commercial release. Providing an experience far beyond what the mod offered the commercial release of the ball is highly enhanced and expanded featuring a full 6 hours of single-player gameplay.

“Tripwire Interactive is a perfect match for us” says Sjoerd De Jong, founder of Teotl Studios. “We are thrilled to work with them and are confident this deal will help us maximize the potential of our game.”

“When we first tried The Ball we knew this was exactly the type of game we would like to publish – fun, creative and a blast to play” said John Gibson, President of Tripwire Interactive. “This is all the more exciting for us as the winner of the previous ‘Make Something Unreal’ contest to have the opportunity to help a winner from the latest MSU contest take their game commercial.”

About the game:

The Ball is a first person action-adventure game featuring a full single-player experience built on Epic’s Unreal™ Engine 3 technology. As a swashbuckling archaeologist working on the slopes of a dormant volcano somewhere in Mexico, you get stuck in a cavern. It doesn’t take long before you realize this is more than just a cave. You reveal ancient ruins that have been hidden from outsiders for centuries and discover a mysterious artifact, a gold and metal shelled Ball. As you progress towards solving the mystery of this amazing place you must unlock the secrets of The Ball and learn to control this ancient artifact. You will also start to encounter not just puzzles and traps, but also various strange creatures – the guardians of this mystery. These creatures also have to be overcome, using only The Ball to defend you. Venturing deeper into the volcano, you reveal some of mankind’s greatest secrets…

Key features:

* Six hours of single-player adventure

* Game mechanics that are very simple to pick up, immersing the user in the physics-based gameplay right from the start

* 8 huge levels to explore

* Includes bonus Survival game mode, with 3 additional levels

* Wide range of enemies to overcome, including mummies, an undead gorilla and boss characters

* Unique vehicles – an underground train and the mysterious “Ball Chariot”

* More than 30 secrets hidden away to be discovered, as well as multiple achievements for the player to earn

* Steamworks™ features including achievements and leaderboards

The game will be available on Steam and in stores from Fall 2010. For further information on the game, visit the game website: http://%7boption%7d.

About Tripwire Interactive

Based in Roswell, Georgia, Tripwire Interactive is an entertainment software developer and publisher founded in 2005 by the award winning mod team and winners of the 2004 edition of the “$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal” competition. Released in early 2006, Tripwire Interactive’s debut retail title Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45 achieved both critical and commercial success garnering several awards including “Multiplayer Game of the Year” and “FPS of the Year” for 2006. Killing Floor, Tripwire’s second title, jumped straight to the top of the Steam best-seller list and instantly became one of the top-ten most played FPS games in the world. With some of the most played PC Multiplayer games on the market and over 1,000,000 units sold on PC, Tripwire Interactive have proven that with hard work, determination, and great distribution partners, independent game developers can still make a big splash in the games industry. For more information visit Tripwire Interactive’s website at http://%7boption%7d.

About Teotl Studios

Based in Vittinge, Sweden, Teotl Studios is a game development start-up focused on creating quality and immersive single player experiences. The staff is a unique mix of seasoned veterans and talented enthusiasts.

The studio’s first title, The Ball, started out as a critically acclaimed mod. It came second in the 2010 edition of Epic Games’ “$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal” competition, and also secured ModDB’s “Best Singleplayer Mod of 2008″ award. Recently the game was awarded funding by the Nordic Game Program, an initiative from the Scandinavian governments to promote and support regional game development. With the full version of The Ball, Teotl Studios aims to continue this success and present the world with an atmospheric, memorable, and above all fun experience.

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And these were the last two days of the Screenshot Special:

Day 9:

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A Tlaloc accompanied by a couple of mummies on the roof of the Tower of Cahua. Complete the Tower of Cahua to gain accesss to a raft, and travel deep into the very heart of the volcano!

Day 10:

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A mummy storming at the player in one of the golden cities of Teotl, with blood covering the screen from previous kills!

7 and 8!

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A new shot of our undead gorilla! This massive beast guards the Waterfall Bridge at the end of Teotl, ensuring that only the worthy can set foot in the sacred drylands of Hueca.

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A cool action shot of Survival, showing the worm towering in the background, and a bug attacking upclose.

Cant say at the moment, but a major announcement is on its way.

Day 6

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An unfinished room in the final level of the game. The construction was abandoned when the civil war broke out. Little trains used to deliver the raw material to the construction site, as workers excavated caves deep inside the “Pico del Miedo” as the volcano is known nowadays.

Day 5

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One of the fearsome worms that guard the three pyramids of Hueca. This is the first place in the game where you get to use electricity to kill things!

Day 3 and 4 (was not home yesterday)!

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Two armored Tlalocs battling fire in the final level of the game! These fierce beasts are the guardians of Cahua. To solve the riddle of the Ball you must defeat these vicious overlords!

[Blocked Image: http://www.theballthegame.com/media/madscreenshotspecial4.jpg]

An atmospheric shot of “The King”, taken in the basement of one of the three massive pyramids of Hueca. This mysterious ruler follows the player throughout his journey. Who is he? Why does he follows the player?

Quote from Furyo

My money is on EA. My logic is this: - Publisher has to have been involved on the territory on a massive enough scale to have such ties with the government or the parlament

- Publisher has to have very few remaining interests there, including no studio for whom the tax breaks would be a welcome news

- Publisher would most likely have stayed very quiet during the initial talks, instead of joining TIGA and lobbying in favor of tax breaks.

And when you think about these things, you start realizing that Ubi currently has a studio in the UK (Reflections), that both Activision and Ubi had joined TIGA to lobby for tax breaks, and that while EA had its headquarters and a huge dev studio in Chertsey for many years, they have now closed down and moved out of that location for a few years and currently do not own any studio in the UK (that I am aware of)

All in all, EA fits the bill. Their huge studios are in Canada and California, and their move from Chertsey just validates their very limited hold in Europe (EA Mobile is in Frankfurt, and that's about it) while retaining some key business contacts with the parlament after having been that big in the UK before.

Perhaps but I believe one of the things that were important for the british government were the cultural value and impact of games. Some of Britains biggest "export IPs", things such as Harry Potter and LOTR, are owned by EA... If the tax break would have gone through, EA would have had the best product portfolio of them all to claim it.

Day 2

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The Nail Room in the Oztoc level. Charge up the Ball with nails, and release them to temporarily turn it into a giant frag grenade, instantly killing any mummy that was unfortunate enough to be within range!

10 Mad Days Of Screenshots – Day 1

Over the next 10 days we will be posting one cool new screenshot a day!

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An environment shot of the revamped Teotl I City Square. The lush cities of Teotl were once the heart of this hidden world, but beware, for the beauty of this place hides horrific perils. Destroy the crystal and tremble as the city comes back to life!

http://%7boption%7d

http://%7boption%7d

http://%7boption%7d

My money is on Ubisoft.

However there may be more to it than the article wants you to think. It could be that a publisher did lobby to get it cancelled but that at the end of the day it may have been primarily becuase it just didn't fit the budget. The publisher who tried to get it cancelled must have no or very few development studios in the UK. At the same time however, the UK government presumably did listen to what they had to say? Why would they listen to a company who has no offices in their country, and employs no one, at the expense of their own companies and jobs? All while discussing a deal that had as sole goal to help exactly those people and companies?

A UK tax break, if it were to be succesful, could kickstart a process of reverse brain-drain, which could make a lot of companies nervous. The number of brits working abroad in the games industry is quite huge, a strong home development scene would cause a number of these to return home.

460$ over the past 6 or whatever years. I am unaffected by ads and weekend deals

Edit make that 360$, it charges 100$ for lost coast:)

Update!

Two new videos. One action packed video, one showcasing the atmosphere and mood, the revamped first level, and the new menu.

9 Ways to kill a mummy

Coming up in a week and something is our Ten May Days of Screenshots special. One cool screen a day.

http://www.theballthegame.com/

Quote from PhilipK

Yes, good grid and rotation snap is really important. I really miss the grin-editor snap and align system for units. I haven't found a similar system in Unreal so far sadly What I look for is being able to align stuff perfectly according to a placed objects rotation and position, and the ability to place dummies in the object to which other objects can use as a snap-target. This is really useful when working with various curved objects.

Anyone know if you can do this in ued?

Unfortunally no, you cant.

http://twitter.com/hourences/

and http://twitter.com/theballgame for my game

Modding is totally dead. Indie games is very much alive. I don't think you can wrap modding under the indie umbrella. Two different things IMO, but both done by the same group of people.

Why mod a game when you can make your own game? You also got to look at the decline of PC gaming, there just are not that many PC games out there anymore that are really popular and played a lot.

Getting freelance opportunities all comes down to:

a. your name and fame

b. your big network of contacts

c. your superior skill or unique specialization

If you don't have at least 2 of those forget it, you won't be able to live of it for a prolonged period of time. Freelancing is more difficult than working onsite on the contrary of what many people seem to think.

Quote from e-freak

that's totally kick ass. wonder though how you guys work with that money as i was under the impression you all work remote?

Office or no office, making a game is expensive. You can get a simple little office for between 300 to 500 euro a month. Times 5 for 5 months development is a mere 1500 to 2500 euro. That doesn't has a big impact on your budget.

What does are salaries, and that you always have, with or without an office. Lets say you want to have 1000 euro after taxes a month, which is very little. That means 2000 euro before taxes multiplied by lets say 4 people multiplied by lets say 5 months is 40 000 euro.... And thats for not even half a year, just 4 people, and a salary you cant even survive on.

And there is the age certificates which are quite expensive, accountant, the (way too overpriced) 2d and 3d software, you need a budget for marketing, etc.

It may have gotten easier the last few years to distribute your game and get your hands on pro technologly like the UDK, the whole process still demands a significant investment. So we are very happy to have received this grant, takes some pressure of us and allows us to focus on making the best game we can rather than worrying how we are going to survive the coming month.